


Let Her Go

by Top1PercentFics



Category: Professional Wrestling, WWE
Genre: F/M, Love Triangle, NXT - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 09:23:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17957837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Top1PercentFics/pseuds/Top1PercentFics
Summary: Tommaso and Brynn were high school sweethearts years ago. Back then they were just two young kids in love with stars in their eyes. He left to chase his wrestling dreams but promised to come back once he made a name for himself. Days turned into weeks without a word from Tommaso, and eventually, Brynn gave up and moved on with her life.It’s now more than ten years later and the two find their way back into each other’s lives through a mutual love of professional wrestling. Tommaso is making a name for himself in the NXT when Brynn gets hired with the company.Will old flames be ignited between the two former lovers? Or are there some scars too deep to heal?





	1. Prologue

I sat in a conference room at the Performance Center in Orlando as I looked across the solid oak conference table at the man that could make or break my dreams. What he said next would either change my life forever or break my heart.

“As you know, we had people come from all over the country to try out with us for this audition, and we will only be offering contracts to three women. The women you were competing against were some of the most athletic tryouts we’ve ever seen come through the door. The competition was stiff, and we’ve had to make three very tough decisions. After talking it over with the other coaches, we’ve come to a decision, and I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

I let out a sigh as I felt my heart drop to the floor at Hunter’s words. I didn’t need to hear him actually say the words to know that I hadn’t been good enough. I mean I had seen the women competing against me during the tryouts. They were nothing short of amazing in the ring. He said it himself they were some of the most athletic tryouts they had ever seen. What chance did a girl like me, who has little to no experience in the business, stand against women who have been doing this in other companies for years?

Hunter looked down at some papers in front of him. His eyes scanned the words on the page before he looked up and his eyes met mine.

“The bad news is that you’re going to have to go back home,” he sighed as he looked back down at the papers in front of him.

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth to hold back my emotions and nodded as I looked down at my hands. I knew my chances of getting signed were slim, but hearing the rejection and the words actually leave Hunter’s mouth stung more than I thought it would.

“The bad news is that you’re going to have to go back home, and pack your bags because you’re moving to Orlando.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter slide a piece of paper across the table towards me.

I picked my head up and my lips curved into a wide grin as I looked across the table at Hunter. Had I heard him right? Was this some kind of joke? Could this really be happening? I brought my hands up to cover my face as I tried to process that this was really happening.

“Breathe, kid,” Hunter said as he smiled at me. “You’ve got yourself a contract. Welcome to NXT.”

He rose from the chair he sat in and reached across the table to extend a hand to me. I reached down and wiped my sweaty palms on the top of my jeans before I stood up and reached out to shake his hand.

We spent the next hour going over the logistics of the contract, pay, etc. After signing my life away on the dotted line no less than six times, I had become an NXT Superstar.

“Why don’t you follow me? I’ll show you around the Performance Center and introduce you to some of the people you’ll be working with.” Hunter said as he led me towards the central part of the Performance Center.

It was the end of the tour and Hunter and I were currently standing in the main room of the Performance Center. Several superstars were sparring and training in the various rings around the room.

“Let me introduce you to a couple of the guys,” Hunter said as he led me to the ring closest to us.

I turned around, and when I did, I felt the air leave my chest. My eyes met with an all too familiar pair of blue ones that I hadn’t seen in more than ten years. I felt my mouth go dry and my chest get tight as I looked at the man that had stolen my heart a long time ago and then ran away with it.

“Brynn, this is Johnny Gargano and-“

“-Champy,” I said it in a voice so low it wasn’t more than a whisper. It was the nickname I had given him years ago when we were just a couple of kids with stars in our eyes.

Johnny’s face curved into a grin at the nickname, and he brought his hand up to try and cover the smile that had formed on his lips. Even Triple H, who usually kept himself fairly composed, snickered from beside me at the nickname as it rolled off my lips.

“I take it you two know each other,” Hunter said as he looked between Tommaso and me.

I couldn’t bring myself to answer as my eyes stared at Tommaso, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my first love stood just mere feet away from me. Tommaso shook his head before looking over at Hunter. He slowly nodded his head before bringing his eyes back to me.

My mind immediately thought back to the last time I saw him before he left. Before he went to chase his dreams and forgot about everyone he left behind, including me, during his journey to his dreams.

**Start Flashback**

It was just before sunset and the air felt humid and sticky from the thunderstorm that had rolled through a few hours prior. Tommaso and I were sat on his parents’ front porch as we looked out at the horizon and enjoyed the mere fact that we were together for what would be the last time in a long time.

He had his arms wrapped around me, and I leaned my head back against his shoulder. I closed my eyes and tried to freeze this moment in my mind so that I could think back on it when he was gone. I knew it would be moments like this that I clung to.

When the nights got just a bit too cold, and the distance got just a bit too hard, I knew it would be moments like this I would think of to pull myself through the hard times. The nights where I could feel every single mile between us, I would close my eyes and picture this moment. The way I felt safe and secure in his arms. The smell of his cologne when I took a deep breath. The softness of his lips as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. It was all the little things that would get me through the distance.

I knew that a long distance relationship wasn’t going to be easy. I knew there would be times that I wished it wouldn’t be this way. I knew there would be times that I would despise the fact that I was only seventeen and couldn’t follow him as he chased his dreams. I knew there would be times that I felt like the small town we came from located just outside of Milwaukee would feel like a dense cloud suffocating me as my mind wandered to where he might be or what he might be doing.

There were a lot of unknowns that hung in the air. He didn’t know where his next move would be. He had a couple calls out to various wrestling companies around the country, most of them in the North East part of the country. Meanwhile, I would be starting my senior year of high school in the morning.

“You promise you’ll come back?” I whispered as I finally said the question that had been haunting me for weeks.

Being forgotten. It was my biggest fear and the biggest unknown that hung in the air between us. I knew he wouldn’t be back in a week or maybe even a month. I didn’t need for him to come back that soon. I wanted him to go out there and chase his dreams. I wanted him to make a name for himself in the wrestling business. I just needed to know that when it was all said and done, he’d come back for me.

When he didn’t respond right away, I turned my head to look over at him. There was a sadness in his eyes that I couldn’t help but notice. For a split moment my heart started to race as my mind began to think of worst case scenarios.

Was this the end of our story? Was he going to call it off with me so he could focus on his next move without having to worry about me? Did he not want to be with me? Did he not think we could do it? All these thoughts and more raced through my mind until I felt a nauseous feeling starting to form in my stomach.

“I will come back, I just don’t know when. I don’t know where I have to go or what I have to do. There’s a lot of things I don’t know. But the one thing I do know is that when I can, I’m coming back for you.” Tommaso said as he looked into my eyes.

I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding in. He was going to come back. He wouldn’t forget me. I just had to be patient and sit at home as he went out into this big, big world and made a name for himself.

“Just think a year, and we can be together. We just have to make it till May.”

“Nine months. Nine months apart and then it’s you and me taking over the world.” His lips curved into a grin and I couldn’t help but mirror his smile with one of my own. “But I want you to focus on school. I want you to get your degree and make something of your life. I want you to do what I didn’t do and graduate.”

“You think you’ll remember me in nine months?” I asked as another thought came into my mind.

“What do you mean?” He asked as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Once you make it big you’ll have all those girls screaming and wanting to be with you. You’ll probably forget about little old me.”

He reached up and took my chin his hand between his thumb and forefinger. He looked into my eyes and said, “No woman in the world could compare to you. Besides you’re the only girl I know crazy enough to put up with me.”

A chuckle rolled off my lips, and I smiled as I leaned my head back against his shoulder. It was true Tommaso could be a little crazy at times. Actually most of the time. But I loved him, and although my parents would much prefer I settle down with a doctor or a lawyer, and live in some suburb with a beautiful house and a white picket fence, it was Tommaso and all the uncertainties that came with him that stole my heart.

**End Flashback**

I shook my head to clear the memories that had filled my mind. I had to remind myself that the man standing in front of me wasn’t the eighteen-year-old kid I had fallen in love with years ago. The man that stood in front of me was nothing more than a stranger to me. Just a shell of someone I had once known long ago.

The other superstars turned and made their way back to the ring to continue their training, but Tommaso and I stood there frozen as we looked into the eyes of our former lover. Neither of us said a word. We just stood there looking into each other’s eyes.

“Brynn,” he whispered, breaking the tense silence that hung in the air between us as his eyes took me in. He said it almost like he couldn’t believe I was really here, standing in front of him. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I can’t believe you never came back.” That was all I said to him before I turned and followed Hunter out of the room. Just before stepping out of the room I stole a glance over my shoulder and saw Tommaso standing there looking like he’d just been punched in the stomach.


	2. Let Her Go: Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brynn is just starting to get comfortable with her new career and her place in the company when she gets thrown a curveball and a ghost from her past makes its way back into her life.

I spent the days following the encounter with Tommaso avoiding him at all costs. I quickly learned his schedule and did whatever I could to make sure my schedule was the opposite of his. If he had an in-ring training session scheduled for two, I made sure I went in at ten. If he went to the gym first thing in the morning, I made sure I went later in the day.

Part of me knew that I wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever. We worked for the same company, and because of that fact alone, it was inevitable that I would have to put my personal feelings aside and work with him for the sake of professionalism.

I just didn’t expect to have to put a professional face on so soon. It was early June, just five weeks after signing with the company when I got a call from Hunter asking if I could come to the Performance Center for a meeting with him and the creative team.

As I drove from Nikki Cross’ apartment who’s couch I was sleeping on until I found more permanent arrangements of my own, I couldn’t help but feel like this was all surreal. I mean it was rare for someone to get put into a storyline so soon after signing unless they were coming to NXT with an impressive resume behind their name.

“Thanks for coming in on such short notice. Have a seat,” Hunter said as he led me into a conference room at the Performance Center.

As soon as I stepped into the room, any excitement I had about the storyline went out the window when I saw the very man I had avoiding for weeks sitting at the far end of the table. Johnny Gargano, Dash Wilder, Scott Dawson, Emma, and a few producers were also there.

“You gotta be kidding me,” I mumbled to myself before I took a deep breath, and looked down at the floor before I lifted my head and looked at Hunter. His face told me that this was not a joke.

I made my way over to the only empty seat in the room which was beside Tommaso. I sat down and immediately angled my body away from Tommaso, so I was looking at Hunter.

“Alright let’s get this meeting started. The audience is loving these matches between you four,” Hunter began as he looked around the table at Johnny, Tommaso, Dash, and Scott. “We think this has all the makings of a great storyline. But it’s going to take more than just putting on great matches. That’s where you two come in.” He added as he looked at Emma and then at me.

“It will start with Emma coming down to the ring and getting involved in a match at a live show on behalf of The Revival. Brynn, we’ll have you come down and take care of Emma. We want to see how crowds react at house shows before we put it on TV. If we get a good reaction, then we’ll put it on NXT TV at a set of tapings.

I tried my hardest to listen to the words coming out of Hunter’s mouth, but all I could focus on was the feeling of Tommaso’s eyes on me from where he sat just a foot or two away.

How could Hunter and the producers expect me to do this? How could I work so closely with someone who had ripped my heart right out of my chest? How could I ever trust him enough to work with him after what he did? How could I just pretend like nothing ever happened when he was the man that had destroyed every dream we ever made?

But then, on the other hand, I might not get another opportunity like this, especially if I turned this one down. Surely it couldn’t be that bad, right? I mean working closely in a storyline with the man that had promised me the world and then forgot me, wouldn’t be so bad, right?

Dash, Scott, and Emma all immediately said they liked the idea and agreed to it. Johnny thought it over for a few minutes but ended up also agreeing to it. That left just Tommaso and me to say yes.

Neither of us had said a word since Hunter started talking. I could feel every set of eyes in the room on me, but I kept my gaze in my lap. I was trying to decide if Tommaso was worth committing career suicide by turning this storyline down. I was so new to the company, and I knew how it would look if I turned it down. I might never get another storyline from them.

“Tommaso? Brynn? Any thoughts?” I heard Hunter ask. I lifted my head and looked across the table at him. I knew I had to make a decision, and make it fast.

When it all came down to it, I just had to make one decision. Was I willing to let Tommaso take another dream away from me?

“Okay,” I whispered before I nodded my head.

“You’re in?” Hunter asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.

“I’m in.”

“Tommaso?”

“What else is there to say? I’m in.” I heard Tommaso answer Hunter’s question.

“Alright, then it’s settled. We’ll start working on some scripts and get a few more details in place. We’ll meet again in a few weeks once we have a clearer vision of where we want to go.” Hunter stated before folding the envelope in front of him and making his way out of the room. The producers stood from their chairs and followed Hunter out of the room just moments later.

Scott, Dash, and Emma bid us a quick farewell before making their way out of the room as well.

“I’ll see you later for our training session,” Johnny said to Tommaso before he stepped out of the room.

That left Tommaso and I alone in the conference room. I took a deep breath and went to stand up, wanting to get out of the room as quickly as I could. Just as I moved to take a step towards the door, a hand reached out and gently wrapped around my holding me in place.

“Brynn-“ I heard an all too familiar deep, husky voice say.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh, knowing I was going to have to face him after weeks of avoiding him at all costs. I folded my arms across my chest and looked up at him as I waited to see what he would have to say next.

“What?” I hoped he would be able to hear the annoyance in my tone and realize that I didn’t want to be here.

“I…I just wanted to say-”

“If you’re here to apologize please just forget it. I’m doing this for me and for the benefit of my career. This is strictly professional. It doesn’t change anything that happened between us.”

He opened his lips as if to speak but after a few seconds closed them when no words came out. I stood up from the chair and made my way out of the conference room without another look back at him.

I stepped out into the hallway and leaned my head back against the wall as I let out the breath I had been holding in. I couldn’t believe I had just agreed to work with Tommaso in a storyline. How did I possibly think this would work? I could barely manage to have a sixty-second conversation with him. How would I ever be able to put on enough of an act to make the audience believe we were friends?

“You okay?” I heard a voice say from the other end of the hallway, pulling me from my thoughts.

I opened my eyes and looked down the hallway to see Johnny Gargano walking towards me.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” I forced a smile to my lips.

“You sure?” Johnny asked as he raised an eyebrow at me. I could tell he didn’t believe me, but I also got the impression that he wasn’t going to push the issue further.

I took a deep breath and looked at him, before opening my lips. “Johnny…I know that Tommaso’s your partner. You guys are friends. So I want you to be the first person I say sorry to.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“If this whole storyline thing blows up because of me, I’m really sorry.”

“Why would it blow up because of you?”

“Tommaso and I have a history together, and it’s not a good one. If this whole thing blows up because of us, I’m really sorry.”


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will happen when Tommaso and Brynn are alone for the first time in almost ten years?

Getting put into a storyline with Tommaso turned out much better than I ever imagined it would. Although there were some hard feelings between us, we were able to put them aside for the sake of our jobs.

We began training together, along with Johnny. It started with a workout here or a training session there. The workouts started getting more and more frequent, and soon we were doing daily workouts, sometimes two a day, with each other.

We began traveling together across Florida on weekends as we wrestled at house shows. Our weekends were spent driving miles of Florida’s highways with Johnny behind the wheel, me in the backseat, and Tommaso singing off key from the passenger seat.

Our time together soon moved from the Performance Center to other aspects of our lives. The guys helped me find a little studio apartment just ten minutes from the Performance Center. They made countless trips to Target and helped me pick out everything I would need for my first place.

We began spending nights off at their apartment watching movies together. Whether it was Marvel or Disney, we always had a great time, and I found myself starting to be okay with being around Tommaso. I didn’t feel the need to have my guard up as much. I saw myself actually smiling when he said something. With each day that passed, I seemed to grow just a little more comfortable around the man that had broken my heart so many years before.

Of course, negative feelings were still there. By no means were we running off into the sunset together to live happily ever after. The heartbreak and heartache that comes from promising forever to someone only to have them break every promise they ever made doesn’t go away in a matter of days or weeks. It’s the kind of wound that although not physical and not seen by the eye, can only be healed with time.

It was about five weeks after we were put in the storyline together, and I was over at the guys’ apartment for our usual Wednesday movie night at their place. We were in the living room sitting on the couch as we watched Captain America: Winter Soldier. It was during the second half of the film and the scene where Bucky’s mind was erased after he recognized Steve on the bridge was playing. The second I heard the groan leave Bucky’s mouth I flinched my eyes closed and squeezed my hands to try and block out the sounds of his pain.

That was when I felt it. There was a hand holding onto mine. I could feel the rough pad of a thumb running over the smooth skin of the back of my hand. A small gasp left my lips as I looked over and my eyes met with a pair of all too familiar blue ones.

How could the man that ripped my heart out just hold my hand like it was nothing? And why did I find it comforting? His touch should feel like fire on my skin. It should have me pulling away from his touch in an instant. So why? Why was I craving his touch? Why did I feel myself relax as his lips curved into a small, reassuring grin as he looked at me? Why was I leaning in ever so slightly towards him? Why was he my source of comfort at this moment when he should be the exact opposite?

I cleared my throat and carefully slipped my hand out of his as I turned my attention back to the movie playing on the TV screen. Tommaso didn’t try to touch me the rest of the film, but I caught myself looking over at him out of the corner of my eye every few minutes. And why did I find him looking back at me too?

I shook my head, pushing away any thoughts that might be running through my head. This was all ridiculous. There was absolutely nothing going on with Tommaso and I. Him holding my hand was nothing more than coincidence. He probably didn’t even mean to do it. I’m sure he moved his hand to stretch it, and it just happened to brush with mine during that particular moment of that particular scene of the movie. It was all just a big coincidence that I was letting get into my head.

I pushed the thoughts of Tommaso’s hand in mine from my mind as I focused my attention back on the screen in front of me so I could watch the rest of the movie.

**Next Morning**

I heard the sound of my alarm from somewhere beside my head and groaned as I reached over to silence it. I let out a sigh and opened my eyes only to close them when I saw the sunlight shining in through the window on the far side of the room.

After blinking a few times to let my eyes adjust to the brightness of the room, I looked around, unsure of where I was. I was in a bedroom that much I was sure of, but it wasn’t one I recognized.

The bed I was laying in had a navy comforter and gray sheets on it. The walls around the room were bare except for an NXT Tag Team Championship that was hanging above the dresser on the wall opposite the bed.

It wasn’t until I looked over and saw a picture sitting in a frame on top of the nightstand that I realized where I was. It was a picture of Tommaso and his sister. She looked so different from the last time I’d seen her, but then again it had been more than ten years since we last saw each other. She would have been just fourteen the last time I saw her. In the photo, she had on a black graduation gown, and a graduation cap was sitting crooked on her head. I assumed it was either her high school or college graduation, although the lack of facial hair on Tommaso told me it was probably the first one.

I reached up and ran a hand through my hair as I tried to put the pieces of last night together in my mind. I remembered coming over to Johnny and Tommaso’s for our Wednesday Marvel Movie Night. But when did I fall asleep? How had I gotten in Tommaso’s room?

I pushed the covers from my body and swung my legs over the edge of the bed to stand up. I looked down and realized the only thing I was wearing was an oversized gray Performance Center t-shirt with a pair of lacy underwear that were just a little too revealing for me to be comfortable wearing in my ex’s bed.

My mind immediately began searching for any signs I could find to put the puzzle pieces of last night together. What the hell had happened? I mean I was clearly in Tommaso’s room. I was wearing what I assumed to be his shirt and just my underwear. Surely, I wouldn’t have let anything happen…right?

I had spent the first five weeks of my time in Florida avoiding the man at all costs. Now just a month or two later I was half-naked in his bed? There was one thing I was sure of. I hadn’t slept with Tommaso. I didn’t feel the ache between my legs, the other side of the bed looked untouched. All the signs I could see told me that I hadn’t slept with him. So there was at least one silver lining of last night.

But even if we didn’t sleep together, there were still some questions I had. I distinctly remembered falling asleep on the couch in the living room fully dressed. How had I made my way into Tommaso’s room? How did I end up in one of Tommaso’s shirts? And where in the hell did my pants go?

I slid off the edge of the bed and made my way to the dresser on the other side of the room. I pulled open the drawers looking for a pair of shorts or sweatpants, anything I could find so that I wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame to the living room in my underwear.

I stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room. My eyes scanned the room for any signs of either Johnny or Tommaso. I saw Tommaso laying on his side with a blanket covering his lower half and his right arm tucked under his head into a makeshift pillow.

Despite all the crap that filled our history and all the sleepless nights spent crying myself to sleep, I immediately felt bad that he had spent the night sleeping on an uncomfortable thrift store couch while I slept like a baby in his bed.

I looked down at Tommaso and then over to where the living room opened up into the kitchen. I decided I would try to make up for his unfavorable sleeping arrangements last night by waking him up with a home cooked breakfast.

I made my way into the kitchen and immediately began opening the cupboards to assess what the guys had for food in the apartment. After looking in the cupboard and the fridge, I realized I wouldn’t have much to work with. There were a few eggs left in the carton, a fourth of a gallon of milk, three pieces of bacon, and a couple pieces of bread. It probably wasn’t going to be the best breakfast he’d ever had, but I hoped he would accept the small peace offering nonetheless.

I opened the Spotify app on my phone and put it on shuffle before setting it on the counter where it would be out of the way. I then cracked eggs and poured them into a skillet as I started to cook the bacon in another. I stood there in front of the stove humming and swaying to the beat of the songs as they played.

I jumped when I felt a pair of hands gently take hold of my waist. The spatula in my hand fell to the floor with a light clank as I heard the low raspy morning voice of Tommaso whisper in my ear. I could feel the warmth coming from his body on my back, and I immediately felt uncomfortable with the closeness of his body to mine.

“You always were a softy for a good rock ballad, weren’t you?”

“They’re called classics for a reason, right?” I nervously said as I tried to focus on anything but the way his hands were holding me close to him. I let out a shaky breath before finding the courage to turn and face him.

“I suppose they are. You didn’t have to make breakfast. I could have run and got us something.”

“It was nothing,” I shrugged. “Although you boys are in desperate need of a trip to the grocery store. I don’t know how you guys even survive off what you have in this kitchen.”

“Johnny’s there now. He left about ten minutes before you woke up.”

Silence slowly filled the kitchen as I reached down and picked the spatula from the floor as I continued working on breakfast. I could feel Tommaso’s eyes burning a hole into my back as I cooked, but I tried to pay no attention to it.

“How did I end up in your room last night?” I asked when I felt the silence of the kitchen starting to feel uneasy.

“I carried you in there after the movie was over.” He said casually as he reached into the cupboard to the right of my head. I felt his hand on the small of my back and his chest press gently against my back as he reached to pull a glass from the cupboard.

“When did I fall asleep?”

“Right before the end of the movie. Don’t worry you didn’t miss any scenes with your precious Winter Soldier in them. You really only missed the end scene where they’re at Fury’s grave, and Natasha gives Steve the folder on the Winter Soldier.” He said as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice.

“You could have woken me up.”

“I could have…but my arm was kinda numb from you sleeping on it.”

“I fell asleep on you?” I asked as I looked over at him with a confused expression. I always made sure to keep our physical contact to a minimum. So how had I fallen asleep on him?

“You did,” he said as he brought the glass of orange juice in his hands to his lips. “Right after the big fight scene about the time Bucky pulled Steve out of the water.”

Silence filled the kitchen as I let his words linger in the air. I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I had fallen asleep on Tommaso and he had carried me into his room and put me to bed.

I had apparently gone quieter than I realized because I was pulled from my thoughts by Tommaso’s voice.

“You okay?” I heard Tommaso ask, his voice still a tad raspy from just waking up.

“I’m fine.”

I pushed any thoughts of Tommaso from my mind as I brought my focus back to the stove and the food I was cooking.

“Brynn,” I heard Tommaso say just before I felt his hand gently touch the small of my back.

I immediately cleared my throat and set down the spoon I was holding as I prepared myself for the inevitable confrontation I knew was coming.

“Tommaso,” I sighed as I slid to the left, causing his hands to fall from my body.

“What? I can’t touch you?” He asked as he looked over at me.

“I think we both know you lost the right to hold or touch me like that a long time ago.”

I heard a sigh leave his lips as he dropped his head and looked down at the ground. “Sorry. Force of habit I guess.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants before he took a step back, adding more space between the two of us.

“Look I know that you probably hate my guts right now, and I can’t really blame you. But can we please just…get along?” Tommaso asked as he looked over at me. There was a sadness in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed earlier. “I mean we’re going to kind of be stuck here together, so we might as well make the best of it. Besides, I hate to be fighting with someone’s who’s supposed to be on the same side as me.”

Silence filled the kitchen as I looked at him without saying a word.

“Or you could just not talk to me…that will work too.”

The kitchen was filled with silence except for the near silent sounds of our breathing and the sizzling of the bacon coming from the stove. I knew what he wanted. He was waiting for me to say something first. He wanted me to break the silence.

“Maybe I was wrong about this whole thing. Maybe I’m just crazy, but I’ve felt something these last couple of weeks. It feels like it used to, Brynn. When it was just you and me against the world. When we didn’t know what was coming next, but we didn’t care because we had each other. I don’t know what I have to do, but I just want us to get past what happened. I don’t want to see you every day and know that I can’t hold you. I don’t want to look at you and see how much I’ve hurt you. I made a mistake, and that’s something I’ve got to own up to, but dammit Brynn I’m on my knees. I’ll do whatever it takes. I just want you back in my life.”

“You really think I could just move past it like nothing happened? You promised me the world and then gave me nothing. Every single promise you made to me you broke. All of those promises were just words that didn’t mean a thing.”

“They weren’t just words though! That’s the thing, Brynn! I meant every single thing I said! I just couldn’t look myself in the mirror and stand the thought of me coming home to you with nothing. I didn’t have my life figured out. I still don’t have my life figured out. I was sleeping on shitty couches and hotel room floors wrestling and putting my body through hell for twenty bucks a night. I didn’t have a dollar to my name, and I couldn’t come back to you because you deserved more than that. I knew if I came home it would just prove everyone right. That I was just some kid that wasn’t ever going to be somebody.” He paused for a moment and reached up to run his hands over his face. I watched his shoulders rise as he took a big breath in. He let the breath out, and his shoulders fell forward. Then he looked up at me and said, “I’ve spent a long time regretting not coming back to you. That’s a mistake I’ll never be able to take back. All I’m trying to do now is make it right. Cause I can’t stand the thought of you hating me. I don’t care if you give me another chance. I know I made the wrong decisions over and over by not coming back and that’s something I have to live with. But I’m not sure I can work with you knowing you can’t stand the sight of me.”

I was almost at a loss for words at Tommaso pouring his heart out to me. He had all but just poured his heart out to me. How the hell was I supposed to respond? What do you say when the man you’re supposed to hate pours his heart out to you?

My eyes moved to the floor, and I took a long, deep breath in as I tried to come up with some sort of response to him.

“You okay?” Tommaso asked, breaking the silence that had filled the kitchen.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I-“

Before I could say another word, I heard keys jingling from the other side of the door. Tommaso and I both turned just as Johnny stepped into the apartment with his arms full of groceries.

“Hey guys! You think you can help me grab the last of the bags?” Johnny asked as he shot Tommaso and me a hopeful smile.

“Yeah, we’ll be right there,” Tommaso said just before he let out a soft sigh.


End file.
